The present invention relates generally to vehicle wheels, especially wheels of the type equipped with a plurality of openings for receiving studs of a wheel hub when mounted to a vehicle, and relates more particularly to a device of the aforementioned type specifically adapted for use with wheels of racing automobiles to facilitate rapid exchange of tires during an automobile race.
Over the years, the technology and engineering of racing automobiles has advanced dramatically to the point that only very fine mechanical and structural differences distinguish one racing automobile from another. Thus, at the ever increasing speeds at which racing automobiles travel, the skill of the driver and his supporting crew as well as tactics and strategy play a greater role in determining the outcome of races. It is not uncommon that only a matter of seconds, or even fractions of a second, separate differing automobiles in the final finishing placement of a race. Accordingly, considerable effort is devoted to time-saving techniques, especially to minimize the amount of time required during pit stops which are always necessary during virtually any race.
One particularly time-consuming procedure which must be carried out during pit stops, at least in the course of races of greater lengths, is the exchange of fresh new racing tires for worn tires. In stock car racing particularly, the wheel hubs of an automobile are characteristically equipped with multiple mounting studs which must project through a corresponding plurality of openings in the wheels which mount the automobile tires and receive lug nuts to firmly secure the wheels to the hubs. The time required to align the openings of each wheel with the studs of the corresponding wheel hub, mount the wheel to the hub, and then secure the lug nuts to the studs can conceivably make the difference in the outcome of a given race if the operation consumes too much time or if one automobile's crew is more efficient at the operation than the crew of a competing automobile. Indeed, wheel exchange operations are actually practiced by pit crews to best minimize the amount of time consumed.
One technique which has evolved in recent years to simplify and shorten tire exchange operations is to actually adhere lug nuts over the openings in a racing automobile's spare wheels preparatory to a race so that, during a tire exchange, the pit crew is not required to manually place the lug nuts on the studs of the wheel hub. Typically, a caulking-type adhesive is utilized to adhere the lug nuts in place on the spare wheels and, hence, while this technique satisfactorily accomplishes the intended purpose of promoting more rapid exchange of tires during pit stops, the technique suffers the disadvantages that this preparatory operation is extremely time consuming, both in the application of the caulking adhesive and in the time required for the adhesive to set up sufficiently to hold the lug nuts securely in place, and also leaves a messy residue of adhesive on the wheels and the lug nuts at the conclusion of a race, which is additionally time consuming to clean. Moreover, given the time required for the caulking adhesive to set up, it is generally not possible to use this mounting technique on short notice, for example, when unanticipated tire changes become necessary during a race.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,163 discloses a quick change wheel assembly by which lug nuts are similarly pre-adhered to a replacement wheel utilizing an auxiliary sleeve disposed between each adhered lug nut and the wheel. This patent discloses the preferred use of a weak glue such as a weak thermo-setting glue, which will separate when axial forces are applied to the lug nut. It is believed, however, that the assembly of this patent may be less desirable than the more traditional use of a caulking-like adhesive because the adhesion of the lug nuts utilizing the intermediate sleeves would appear to be less resilient and flexible than the use of caulking-type adhesive and, therefore, would experience a greater tendency that the lug nuts and/or the sleeves could be dislodged by the studs of a wheel hub upon placement thereon.